Prepare

 

“A voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for the Lord;’”

—Isaiah 40:3

Christmas preparations seem to begin earlier every year. If you’re like me, you would rather have a more leisurely time to get ready than become swept up in a last minute rush. After all, the point of the trappings, gifts, decorations, baking, and carol singing is to create an enjoyable anticipation, right?

We prepare for Christmas by shopping and gift buying, putting up the tree, baking all those special cookies and treats that our families love, and gathering with friends to sing carols. The day itself, for which we have so carefully prepared, comes and goes before we know it. But, the warm glow of the anticipation of it seems to last much longer.

If we think in spiritual terms, the holiday that celebrates the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, also requires a careful preparation. We consider Advent as that time of anticipation and readiness for both the celebration of Christ’s incarnation and also for His ultimate return. We sing hymns that reflect a poverty of spirit and humble consideration of how desperate we are without the new life that Christ came to give us.

One image that often gives me pause is that of the desert. We prepare for the Lord while we wander “in the desert.” We can think of this in terms of our dry, lifeless hearts coming in expectation to God. We can also reflect on the “desert places” of our circumstances. Perhaps the year has brought distress and sadness through grief or sickness or loss. God asks us to make this “desert” a prepared place for Christ to come to us.

John the Baptist was sent to prepare the people for Jesus’ first coming. John lived in the desert and preached repentance of heart to those who so long had anticipated the coming of the Messiah. The scriptures tell us in Luke 3:2-3:

…the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

So, how should we prepare our hearts for Christmas? Contemplation, repentance of sin, viewing our trials as a place for God to come and do new work in us, and considering with thanksgiving all He has done in sending Jesus to be our Savior, Lord, and King. In the words of Psalm 50:23:

He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.

As we prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth and spend time making our homes welcoming places for family and friends, we would do well to remember to do the same in our hearts. Let us truly make a welcoming place in our hearts for our Savior. Let us, indeed, “Prepare the way of the Lord!”

—Posted: Monday, December 27, 2021

 

 

O Little Town of Bethlehem

 

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.

—Micah 5:2

At any time in history, most little towns would be considered insignificant. I know this first hand because I grew up in a little town of approximately 2,000 people. In my personal experience, this place ranked as a very significant town. As I judge significance, neither New York city, nor Houston, Texas, nor any other large city can compare to the importance of my little hometown.

In His scheme of things, through the prophet Micah, God declared the superior significance of little Bethlehem. From that insignificant little town would come the One toward whom history had marched for millions of years, and the One to whom every knee will one day bow, in heaven and on earth.

In our modern culture, we seem to think that the significance of size matters a great deal. We like the big box stores, the big SUVs, big city life, and even mega-churches. In my study of the Book of Revelation, I learned in Revelation 3:8 that, in His message to the church of Philadelphia, God said:

“I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”

What a commendation! This small church was less influential and seemingly more insignificant than others, but God spoke to them in order to encourage them and promise them a future of blessing because they had endured and persevered.

When we consider our small churches, the ones that stay faithful to the truth of the Scriptures and, year after year, humbly minister to their people and the communities around them, we know that God does not overlook them. He sees the small churches and He often uses them to nurture great families, who see their sons and daughters do mighty things for Him.

When we think of the Christmas events and the people who witnessed the birth of the Savior, we find that among them were small, unremarkable men and women, whom God used to spread the glorious news of Jesus’ birth. Yes, the Magi came and presented great gifts, but the lowly shepherds also came and then went out to spread the word of Jesus’ birth wherever they went. Mary and Joseph themselves, so poor that they had to bring pigeons instead of lambs to the temple, had been especially called by God for a most significant responsibility.

When we look at ourselves, or our little towns, or our struggling churches, we must remember that God does not make the same assumptions of greatness that our culture does. He sees ways in which He can most often use the small to carry out His work in the most startling of ways.

 

 

Best of Times, Worst of Times

 

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

—Galatians 4:4

Charles Dickens described the days of the French Revolution in his novel, A Tale of Two Cities: ¹

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

That sentiment prevails whenever we consider other periods of history, as well.

In the days of Jesus’ birth, the Roman Empire ruled most of the then-known world. In the capital city of Rome, the society was secure, prosperous, and luxurious. However, hiding beneath the surface, the entire fabric of society and culture was in imminent danger from hopeless and hidden perversion.

The Greek language was spoken in the entire Empire, unifying it like the world had never seen before. Only the resistance of the Jews kept the Roman Empire from a total allegiance to the ruling authorities. According to Jewish scholar, Alfred Edersheim, the city of Rome: ²

… in one short reign was transformed from brick into marble, … side by side, the most abject misery and almost boundless luxury.

The religious life of the Roman Empire suffered from superstition and from the deification of the Emperor. As Edersheim describes it: ³

Might was right. The social relations exhibited, if possible, even deeper corruption. The sanctity of marriage had ceased. Female dissipation and the general dissoluteness led at last to an almost entire cessation of marriage. Abortion, and the exposure and murder of newly-born children, were common and tolerated.

Edersheim goes on to point out the vile, cunning, evil reign over the Jewish territory of the various monarchs in the Herodian Dynasty, who ruled from 47 BC to 72 AD. This explanation gives us an idea of the way in which God prepared the perfect coming of His Son, Jesus Christ, in the middle of this extremely vile reign of the Herods.

When we read in Scripture about the “Light coming into the darkness,” we begin to understand how bad life must have been for the Jews in those days, and how the most devoted of them waited longingly for the coming of the Messiah. The Lord Jesus Christ came in the fullness of bad times, when history brought all the ripened powers and circumstances together.

As you read the description of the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection, we should consider these questions:

• Do we see a parallel between those ancient days and our own times?
  
  
• Can we relate to the “darkness of the hour” in our present age?
  
  
• Do we cry out for a new coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?
  
  
• Does He have for our day a time of spiritual renewal and hope?
  
  
• Or, will we experience the Second Advent of our Savior, when He will come again in the clouds of heaven?
  
  

As we consider these questions, the answers should move us to consider the longing that ought to reside in our hearts. In any case, we need to watch, pray, and stand ready to see what God will do in our time!

______________________

1 Dickens, Charles, and Harvey Dunn. A Tale of Two Cities. New York, NY: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1921. Book 1. Chapter 1

2 Edersheim, Alfred The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC, 1993. Pp. 177-179.

3 Ibid.

 

 

What Did Malachi Know?

 

“See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

—Malachi 3:1

We hear the Prophet Isaiah’s words so often during Advent because he vividly foresees the birth of Christ. For example, in Isaiah 40:3, we read:

A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.”

That word “prepare” is often associated with both the first and the second Advent of the Messiah.

In the New Testament, at the birth of John the Baptist—the man who would become the immediate forerunner of Jesus—his father Zechariah said, as recorded in Luke 1:76:

“You my child will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him.”

John the Baptist called the people who waited for the Messiah to prepare themselves because the Messiah was beginning His ministry among them. He preached repentance and sought to have the people purified, so that they might serve Christ.

Malachi’s entire prophecy, which happened some 400 years before Christ came to earth, called the people to prepare by purifying their worship, purifying their priestly line (the Tribe of Levi), purifying their marriages, and purifying their priorities in handling their money.

I love the section from which our opening verse is taken. Malachi 3:2-4 goes on to state these words of God speaking through the Prophet Malachi:

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

This prophecy of Malachi refers to the Levites, or those who served in the Temple. I like to think that we, as New Testament saints, are as much Levites, for we serve in Christ’s church, as the Levites served in the Temple.

Yes, our full-time ministers and priests spend time as servants in the church, but so do the church musicians, the Christian Education teachers, those who prepare the holy ornaments of worship, the individuals who set up the Communion Table and prepare the elements of Holy Communion, those people who clean the church, and those who lead the spiritual and business matters of the church. All these people serve God in the church, following the example of the Levitical service in the Temple.

We see clearly that Malachi stresses the purity of those who would serve Christ. What can we expect from the Messiah as we wait for Him during this Season of Advent?

In Joel 2:28-30, this Prophet speaks of the kind of repentance that John the Baptist called for among the people of God. He promises a new day:

I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

Even God, speaking through the lips of the Prophet Malachi, as recorded in Malachi 3:10b agrees:

“See if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

So, in this passage, we see that Malachi saw the coming Messiah clearly. And, Malachi warned God’s people to Prepare, to Purify themselves and to expect God to Pour Out His blessing on them.

Certainly, in the first Advent, with the coming of Jesus to earth in the manager of Bethlehem, God began His revelation to all the people of His eternal plan to bring the people He had chosen to belong to Himself out of their sin and into the wonderful relationship with Him through His Son.

As we wait for His second coming, can we see how these admonitions fit us perfectly now? We, too, wait for the Promised One to come again. We need to prepare, to purify ourselves and wait for the pouring out of God’s blessing!

 

 

Image

 

The Son is the radiance and only expression of the glory of [our awesome] God [reflecting God’s Shekinah glory, the Light-being, the brilliant light of the divine], and the exact representation and perfect imprint of His [Father’s] essence, and upholding and maintaining and propelling all things [the entire physical and spiritual universe] by His powerful word [carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal].

—Hebrews 1:3 AMP

Who is this Messiah we consider during Advent? By scanning the entirety of Scriptures, we find Him defined with our inadequate language.

In Isaiah 9:2, we read:

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

In John’s gospel 8:12, Jesus defines Himself.

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

That light, we read in our title verse comes directly as the radiance of God, a reflection of the Shekinah glory. This glory was reflected in the burning bush for Moses (Exodus 2:2), again in the pillar of fire leading the Israelites from Egypt. (Exodus 13:21). We see this awesome reflection in the tongues of fire that sat on each of the disciples at Pentecost (Acts 2:3).

In this day, how does God provide for us this reflection of God’s brilliant glory? We see God as we look at Jesus. We see His perfect image by gazing at Him through direction from His written Word and prayer, through Spirit-led preaching and teaching.

Not only in those ways, but God expects each of His followers to live as a reflection of God’s Shekinah glory in our lives. We represent the image of Christ to this world. The more “face time” we have with Him, the more fully we absorb and then give off His powerful light.

What a tremendous promise in this regard we read in 2 Corinthians 3:18:

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Even if we shine brightly as lamps in this dark world, we must have oil or power—the Shekinah glory—from some source other than ourselves. The Bible often describes the oil we need as the power of the Holy Spirit. As we look at the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit allows us to mirror Jesus to the watching world.

We cannot expect to give off the Light of Christ in this world unless we reflect Him in the same way that the moon reflects the sun. Nor have the power to continue to shine as lamps without the oil of the Spirit.

This question is worth asking ourselves: “Is the ‘light’ I give off come to me from my own dimly lit bulb and does it shine for my own glory? Or instead, do I truly reflect the glory of my Father in Heaven?” The difference is like night and day!

 

 

The Key

 

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.

—Psalm 100:4

So many times in Scripture, especially in the Psalms, we are encouraged to “Give thanks to the Lord.” The Psalms also persuade us to “Praise the Lord” and to “Worship the Lord.”

To me, praise and worship stem from a mindset that understands to Whom we belong and also from a mindset that understands His greatness and power. We worship because God is worthy of our worship. And, we praise Him for His attributes and those universal benefits we receive from His magnificent grace and power, including the salvation from the penalty of our sins.

To give thanks, however, brings praise to a personal level. In fact, I would like to assert that we open the door to God’s presence with thanksgiving.

We should ask ourselves: “Have our hearts ever felt cold and indifferent when we came to God in prayer?” Certainly none of us can claim that we always come to God with the totality of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, even though He requires that of us.

May I suggest that, when we feel distant from our Lord, we should consider beginning our prayer times with a round of thanksgiving. It doesn’t take long before our hearts engage more fully, when we think how personally God has intervened in our lives—even during times when we wait and wonder at the way He leads us.

This idea has come to me through two passages of Scripture. We find the first passage in Romans 1:21-32. Here the writer describes the wrath of God against wickedness, and the steps to the decline of evil in a person. The very first step downward in this list of sins is a lack of thanksgiving. Romans 1:21:

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to Him.

As we read the rest of the first chapter of Romans, we recognize that the sin that the Apostle Paul writes about only gets darker and deeper. One commentator uses the phrase: “… sin begets sin.” That is, new sin heaps itself on existing sin.

The other passage of Scripture, in which I read this kind of progression, is found in Psalm 106. Here we discover a record of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. Interestingly enough, the Psalm begins with the admonition, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.” When the Psalmist recounts the history of the Jewish nation and recalls their sin, notice the very first thing the Psalmist states about God in Psalm 106:7:

When our fathers were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles, they did not remember your many kindnesses.

From there on, the list includes: rebellion, discontent, jealousy, idolatry, unbelief, apostasy, insurrection, and accommodation to the culture around them. This represents quite a list of terrible sins. But, please take note that not remembering the Lord and His goodness with thanksgiving is the lack of action that first started them down the wrong path.

During this Thanksgiving week, I invite you to rediscover with me the wonderful way in which the giving of thanks to God provides the key that opens the gate, allows us to come into the very presence of our Lord, and allows us to experience anew His sweet Spirit.

 

 

Regard Not Your Stuff!

 

Regard not your stuff, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.

—Genesis 45:20 KJV

Through miraculous circumstances, Jacob learned that his lost son, Joseph, was actually alive and had become a highly influential official in Egypt. He eagerly looked forward to his reunion with Joseph and set out for Egypt, taking his family to settle there.

When Pharaoh learned that Joseph, his second in command, had discovered his family, and that they were going to travel to Egypt, he said to Joseph, as recorded in Genesis 45:17-23 KJV:

Say unto thy brethren, “This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan; And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.”

Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is your’s.

And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way.

Certainly, we can see echoes of Jacob’s experience occurring in the New Testament. Jesus spoke several times in the Gospels about the stuff of life, and the dangers of regarding it too highly. Can you see the parallels to Joseph’s story recorded in the text of the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 6:19-21 KJV?

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

As our lives on this earth come to an end, we will take a journey to God our Father. He knows we will have no need for the stuff of this life because all the good of Heaven will be ours. In fact, as stated in the Scripture passage quoted above from Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus admonished us to lay up treasures in Heaven.

As I pondered these words of Jesus, I wondered what the actual treasures were to which Jesus referred. The Psalmist, writing in Psalm 119:89-91 ESV, states these words:

Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast. By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.

These are the kind of treasures that endure in heaven. They cannot be destroyed by moths or by vermin. Thieves cannot break in an steal these treasurers. Therefore, these treasures are the ones we must lay up in heaven: the word of God, the recognition that God remains always faithful, the reality that God created the heavens, the earth, and all things. The enduring truth that God is above all things and He alone is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise.

The people whom we have had the opportunity to introduce to the mysteries of God and have influenced for Christ also belong to the treasury of Heaven. Some may have directly come to know Christ’s salvation through our witness. Others drew more closely to Him through our lively participation in their lives, through our teaching, our preaching, and our sharing with them what God means to us and what He has done to transform our lives.

Like the Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12:13-21, we read a story from Jesus about a person who lived for treasures on earth and worked for a padded, comfortable, enjoyable retirement, rather than serving others with his wealth. In telling this parable, Jesus reminded us that God controls the length of life, and that all of those treasures we store up to give us the future on earth that we think we control constitute a lie.

Let us consider how we might put away the importance of our stuff in exchange for the eternal riches of God’s grace. That is a most appropriate eternal exchange!

 

 

In Charge

 

He has put his angels in charge of you to watch over you wherever you go.

—Psalm 91:11 NCV

Do you enjoy being in charge? The person in charge usually gets to sway opinions and the direction of the group that he or she leads: the college homecoming festivities, the annual yearbook, the decorating committee, the gala banquet, or even the Pastor Nominating Committee. The one in charge has a great deal of responsibility. But, being in charge can certainly feel good.

Joseph must have felt highly honored, yet very much surprised, when Potiphar, an official in Pharaoh’s court of Egypt, put Joseph in charge of everything Potiphar owned. Genesis 39:3-4 tells us:

When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.

We don’t know much about Potiphar. Perhaps he felt great relief in having someone so competent as Joseph acting as his steward. In Genesis 39:6, the Scripture states:

“So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.”

This statement makes me wonder if Potiphar had more than he could handle and had become anxious about it. He allowed Joseph’s help to relieve him of the anxiety he had over everything. Joseph certainly was a highly competent, fiercely loyal, and dedicated steward.

It is important to note that a steward is defined as: “a servant or slave elevated to a position of responsibility in his or her master’s kingdom.” Even though he or she remains a servant or slave, a steward thinks only of what is the very best action to take, in order to support his or her master. A steward sets aside any personal feelings or desires that he or she may have. Instead, a steward focuses every bit of his or her attention on the wishes of his or her master.

As I think about Potiphar turning over everything he valued to the stewardship of Joseph, it reminds me of times when responsibility has weighed heavily on me. What do we do when we have neither the ability, nor the confidence, to handle something with which we have to deal?

Does God give us tasks with which He knows we will struggle? What if we are given a child with special needs that, in our own strength, we have no way of meeting? We may feel the weight of not having the wherewithal to successfully perform the tasks that make up our responsibility. Yet, we find ourselves seemingly in charge.

Or, what about a dangerous job assignment that feels way too much for us? Or, helping a parent who no longer can stay in his or her home alone? Or, what about guiding our business, in order to make enough income to support our employees and satisfy our stockholders? Or, what about … Well, you can name some situation you have faced where you were placed in charge.

In puzzling over this dilemma, I remembered what the Psalmist told us in Psalm 91. This Psalm is chock-full of promises of protection and help for the person “who dwells in the shelter of the Most High and rests in the shadow of the Almighty.”

When it comes to the really important things in our lives, what a relief to know that God has not put us solely in charge. Instead, in order to supply protection and help, God has actually put His mighty angels in charge!

How easy it must be for them to handle the problem. Like Potiphar, we don’t have to concern ourselves with anything! Let us rest easy and give praise to God.

 

 

A Boatload of Trouble

 

And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

—Matthew 14:33

The disciples had just helped feed 5,000 people near the Sea of Galilee (or Lake of Gennesaret). They must have been tired. However, Matthew 14:22 relates that Jesus told them to get into a boat and go across the Sea to Bethsaida. By the time they reached about half way, they had a “Mid-trip Crisis.” A furious storm came up, and because the wind blew against them, they strained at the oars. Have you ever felt you were “straining at the oars” against a storm in which someone else had involved you?

To make this even harder to understand, as He waited on shore, Jesus could see them in this predicament. And, for reasons that only He would understand, He waited—until sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.—to go to their aid out on the Sea. Instead, Jesus stayed where He was and prayed.

This story contains the miracle of Jesus walking on the water and terrifying the disciples as He came alongside them. His words must have brought great relief to these hardened fishermen, who saw many storms on this Sea. He spoke to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then He climbed into the boat and the wind died down. John 6:20 adds that:

Immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

Jesus may leave us in the boat straining at the oars for a period of time way beyond what we think our strength can bear. He wants to build our endurance and our faith. But, what sweet relief we feel when we know He has come to us and joined us in the storm. He can speak peace to us in that terrible place. And, what is more, He can help us immediately get to our destination.

When we feel that God has left us alone in the storm, we can be assured by this story that He watches us and prays for us like He did for the disciples. We can have confidence to keep going until such time as He reaches us and climbs into our boat!

 

 

"Daddy Do It"

 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

—2 Corinthians 12:9

We’ve all heard a toddler say, “Me do it!” Later on, when her arms don’t fit into the sleeves right, we often hear the toddler say, “Daddy do it!” Children learn by trying to do things by themselves. Then, they sometimes learn that they need help. We should learn the same kind of lesson, and often we do, over and over.

2 Corinthians 11:30, 32-33 records these words of the Apostle Paul, in the city of Damascus:

“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness … the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.”

The Apostle had learned that he needed God’s help. It’s a lesson we need to keep in mind at all times.

Whether persistent, or just stubborn, some of us learn the hard way that when we try to do things on our own, even when we’re trying to serve the Lord, we come up short and often fail to succeed. Remember Sarai and her solution to “help” God give Abram the son He had promised? In this story recorded through Genesis 16, we read how Sarai gave her slave girl, Hagar, to her husband Abram in order to try to fulfill God’s grand design. That plan certainly did not go well for her—or in fact for us, looking at the tumult for centuries in the Middle East.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, when the officers of the temple guard came to arrest Jesus, one of Jesus’ followers cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, thinking he was doing Jesus a favor. Instead, Jesus rebuked His follower, touched the servant, and healed the man! This is recorded in Luke 22:47-51.

We often get ourselves into irreversible trouble when we say, “Me do it!” Most often, our Heavenly Father would rather we let Him do it without our help. Or, God would have us agree to learn from Him in the work He wants us to accomplish with His help. What’s the expression? “When you have dug yourself into a hole, stop digging!”

I am reminded of an old Swedish hymn with these words: ¹

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Refrain:
His love has no limit; His grace has no measure;
His pow’r has no boundary known unto men.
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!

______________________

1 Flint, Annie Johnson. “He Giveth More Grace.” Dayton, Ohio: Lillenas Publishing Co., 1969. Verse 2.

 

 

I Wonder as I Wander

 

The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”

—Acts 23:11

As the events of their daily lives unfolded, even God’s choicest servants must have asked: “Who, What, Where, When, How?” Yet, God rarely answers these questions when He calls us to His service, or makes a promise to us, or places us in circumstances we don’t understand.

I wonder what Paul must have thought God wanted him to do in Rome? He certainly seemed driven to get there. Perhaps Paul looked back at the way God had used his preaching among Gentiles, but probably never considered that God intended him to spend years locked up and away from the crowds.

Paul did preach to a few individuals that were allowed to visit him. And, Paul also preached to the Roman leaders. During that time, Paul also wrote the letters we know as the Books of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, First and Second Timothy, Titus and Philemon, encouraging and instructing all of us in God’s ways.

In the Old Testament, when Joseph, son of Jacob, had two dreams as a teen that his brothers would bow down to him, he got a verbal trouncing by his older siblings! The act of bragging, and his status with their father as favorite son, made the brothers intensely jealous and caused them to carry out a plot to sell Joseph into slavery in Egypt.

I wonder how many times Joseph thought of those long ago dreams and wondered if he had misread God’s promises. Now, he lived in Egypt, far from home and under the control of none other than Pharaoh himself. Even more confounding must have been his subsequent imprisonment because of a false accusation. He made a name for himself interpreting dreams for servants of Pharaoh, and of Pharaoh himself. But, what about his dreams?

But, after 22 years in Egypt, amazingly Joseph confessed to his brothers, in Genesis 45:7:

“But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”

I wonder how many times the teen-age girl, Hadassah, questioned how and why she ended up in the harem of King Xerxes in Persia and eventually became known as Queen Esther. Certainly, she had heard the stories containing promises from God that He would take His people from the lands of their exile back to their home country. How did she fit into this plan, especially now as she held such a position of power and responsibility in this foreign country?

Only as her life played out did she realize that God had given her a unique place from which to save God’s people and literally change history. Not without personal danger did she agree to God’s plan. She heard God’s word through her faithful cousin, Mordecai, as recorded in Esther 4:14:

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?

I wonder sometimes about my own pathway, and you must wonder about your pathway, as well. “What, where, how, why, and who”—God is at work in order to play out His divine plan in us, but what lies ahead? We can all take heart with these words from Isaiah 55:8-9:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

 

 

Caught and Restored

 

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.

—Galatians 6:1

Throughout every church in the United States of America and around the world, beautiful, even amazing, stories of forgiveness and restoration abound:

• Everyone would soon know! She slept with a man outside of her marriage and now carried his baby. Her husband, who was not a believer, immediately filed for divorce. At first, it caused shock and disappointment in the church. But, after the woman confessed to the sin, the women of the church presented her with a beautiful new robe to symbolize their love, forgiveness, and restoration. When her baby was born, the entire church celebrated this new gift of life.
  
  
• The man obviously had ruined his family with his alcoholism. But, once he confessed to his church family, they received him back and came alongside him to restore him. They facilitated his entry into a rehabilitation program and celebrated his release and each day, thereafter, that he remained sober.
  
  
• Another person had been imprisoned for a shameful crime. But, upon hearing the confession and repentance of this individual, and upon this one’s discharge from prison, the church joyfully received this one back among the church family and helped this one to get back into the community as a contributing and important member.
  
  

These instances of forgiveness and restoration should remind us of the story found in Luke 15:11-32, that tells of the man we know as the Prodigal Son. How surprised and loved he must have felt when his father not only welcomed him home, but called his friends and put on a lavish party for this wayward son, receiving and restoring him.

Do we seek to receive and restore those who have obviously “fallen,” but who have come back to us? Do we respond like the father in the story? Or, do we act like the jealous older brother, who complained that his father had never given him a party, even though he had long behaved faithfully? What a witness of grace the church can give to the world if it responds like the hurt and grieving father when the son finally returns.

“Older brothers” will always stand by and criticize rather than responding with grace and mercy. Not everyone will do the kind and merciful thing. But, God will use those who recognize the glory of redemption and forgiveness in the life of one who has been at the bottom and whom Christ has raised up. May we please our heavenly Father by lifting up others as He has lifted us up out of the miry clay of sin.

Praise to our King, who rescues and restores us, as this old hymn tells us: ¹

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,
to his feet your tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
who, like me, his praise should sing?
Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise the everlasting King.

Father-like, he tends and spares us;
well our feeble frame he knows;
In his hands he gently bears us,
rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Widely as his mercy goes.

______________________

1 Lyte, Henry. “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven. ” Hymn in the Public Domain.

 

 

Rain that Refreshes

 

“You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance.”

—Psalm 68:9

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”

—Acts 3:19

Without water, we would all die. We rely on God to supply the rain in order for us to live. I am amazed at how quickly my drooping indoor plants revive once I pour a little refreshing water on them.

We humans can live in a dehydrated condition for a while. But, without natural water and without God-given spiritual water, we cannot live with the vigor, joy, and beauty that God intended when He made us.

A deficiency in the electrolytes that keep our bodies’ electrical systems in balance shows up in lethargy, fatigue, heart rhythm problems, dry skin, and a host of other dire consequences that appear when we have not had enough water. Our bodies only become refreshed with a return to proper hydration.

Let me ask each of us this question: How are our “spiritual electrolytes”? Those of our churches? Can we detect a loss of spiritual hydration there? Sometimes, we hardly know when our spiritual posture sags from lack of the refreshment that God wants to provide for us.

In fact, Jesus addressed this problem with the Samaritan woman in John 4:1-45 and called Himself the “Living Water.” Once she drank of His life-giving spiritual water, she left her water jug, ran rejoicing, and called her neighbors to come at once to meet with Jesus.

In John 7:1-24, we read of Jesus preaching to the crowds at the Feast of Tabernacles, and calling them to come to Him for living water. Like those in that long-ago crowd who responded to Jesus, once we learn to rely on this “Water of Life,” we will need the refreshing and the life-giving health it gives in order to serve Him well.

When we fall into patterns of mundane worship, when we droop in our service to God, when our hearts do not beat with vigor for Christ, and when our tired service yields no fruit for others, we know that we need to stop and ask God for a refreshment of the “Living Water” that only He can give us through His precious Son. Fortunately, we only need to ask Him and He will surely supply us with this “Living Water.”

Let us pray that we will clearly see our weariness and, in response, ask God for “times of refreshing” before we dry up and blow away. Let us ask God for His living water, so that we can refresh others as He refreshes us.

I particularly like the way this hymn describes such a prayer:¹

Refresh Thy people on their toilsome way;
Lead us from night to never-ending day;
Fill all our lives with love and grace divine;
And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine. Amen.

______________________

1 Roberts, Daniel C. God of Our Fathers. Public Domain.

 

 

Keeping Watch

 

“Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord.”

—Proverbs 8:34-35

“Daddy’s coming!” Can you just hear the rumble of rushing feet toward the door? Or “It’s almost time for Daddy to come home!” Can you see the same eager children rush to the window? They enjoy keeping watch because they know for whom they watch.

What overwhelming joy these children bring to a parent who comes home to this kind of anticipation. Imagine God’s pleasure in us as we sit and watch for Him, as we read His written Word, or come to Him in prayer.

Psalm 63:1-3 expresses that exact kind of longing for God’s presence:

“O God, you are my God, earntly [early, eagerly] I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.”

This same kind of eager anticipation for the fellowship with God that He desires from us can be ours daily. But, we must set aside a time for that to happen. A quick devotional thought from a book over breakfast seems more like a teenager on her way out the door yelling, “Hi, Dad, Bye, Dad!”

At any time of the day or night, God will hear us and bless us with His presence. Many find that setting aside time first thing in the morning offers the best opportunity to meet with God. Even David, in Psalm 5:3, expresses his enjoyment of the morning hour spent with God. David writes:

“In the morning O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.”

Coming to God in anticipation should result in far more than simply a time of requesting this blessing or that one. We should eagerly pause and listen for His voice and His direction. We should rehearse His character, His goodness, His greatness, along with His love and care.

What sweet fellowship God desires with us, if we will come with that kind of love and humility—watching for Him, and listening for what He wants to say, in addition to talking with Him about the things we need.

If this kind of intimate fellowship with God seems new to you, why not start by reading the Psalms. These “songs” reveal the heart within so many of God’s followers. The Psalms will give you the words you might need to express the depth of praise and devotion you wish to give to God.

Let us watch for Him daily, and enjoy the anticipation of His coming!

 

 

Zeal or Complacency?

 

Woe to you who are complacent in Zion.

—Amos 6:1

When she hurried into my music classroom at 8:15 in the morning, she looked cold. While other students had arrived earlier for the before-school chorus rehearsal with their parents, or in carpools, she came alone.

When I had the chance, I asked her about it. “Oh,” she said, “my mom goes to work too early, so I walked.” That might not seem like a big deal, but it was.

You see, in order not to miss our rehearsal, this ten-year-old 4th grader had walked clear across town in work traffic. She had walked largely in areas that had no sidewalks. Her route took her through some of the rougher neighborhoods in our town.

I was startled. I realized her early morning walk had taken determination and a fearlessness. Her journey had taken her over an hour to get from her home to school. I could hardly believe she had walked all that way. I set about arranging a ride for her on future rehearsal mornings.

This brave ten-year-old girl revealed her zeal for singing in the chorus, her pride in belonging to the group, and her fortitude against the early morning odds.

I wonder: “How do we fare as adults in the more important matter of church attendance?”

• Do we make it a point, whether difficult or not, to get to the Worship Service, or to the Christian Education hour, despite all the odds?
  
  
• Do we assure our attendance in spite of the bad weather?
  
  
• Do we arrive each week at church in spite of the other activities offered on that day?
  
  
• Do we place church attendance at a higher priority than family expectations?
  
  
• Does our persistent church attendance ever cost us anything?
  
  

In the days before northern Israel was taken by Babylon into captivity, the prophet Amos warned these well-off and contented Jews of the impending doom that was coming for them because of their complacency, their self-indulgence, and their haughty rebellion against God. In Amos 6:4-6, the Prophet reminded them:

You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.

Had these contented people even noticed the sinful behavior that, very subtly over time, had become part of their lifestyle?

• Did they go through the motions of traditional worship, but neglect the poor and plunder them for their own benefit?
  
  
• Did they not notice when the Lord withheld rain from them, or not watch when locusts and mildew struck their crops?
  
  
• Did they wonder why the plagues had come?
  
  
• Did they take note of the increase in the number of floods, the increase in the number of earthquakes, the increase in the number of tornadoes, and the increase in the number of other natural disasters?
  
  
• Did they ignore the increase in violence in their cities, the eroding of the structure of their society, the corruption in their government, and the general decline in the goodness of their people?
  
  
• Did they not see how greed had become the major motivating factor in every level of their society—greed that drove people to lie, to steal, to hide their true motives, to make evil sound good, and to make good sound evil?
  
  
• Did they fail to recognize God’s clearly displayed warning signs?
  
  
• Did they consistently ignore God’s calls for repentance from their many sins?
  
  

As I look around our great nation, I fear that, very gradually over time, the American church has fallen into the same kind of sins as these ancient people did. And, when God sends us a pandemic, a failure in war, violence and destruction of our cities, and a rapidly increasing financial instability and scarcity of our resources because of the greed that motivates so many decisions that people in authority make, do we even consider the possibility that He may be trying to get our attention, and to warn us of a plight similar to the one that overtook His people in Amos’ day?

We need not stand by with looks of surprise on our faces. By studying the events that overtook the people in the days of the Prophet Amos, we can learn from their offenses and God’s pleas.

Through the Prophet Amos, found in Amos 5:4, 6, and 14-15, God spoke these words as an instruction for the sinful nation:

Seek me and live; … Seek the Lord and live … Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say He is.

Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

May we wake up and repent. And, may God be merciful to us!

 

 

"I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up"

 

Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.

—Psalm 146:5

The older I get, the more I detest the commercials on TV that show a poor woman alone and on the floor, calling: “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” Although physically I may not yet personally relate to that kind of weakness, I certainly can find myself in the emotional position of having fallen and needing help getting back “up” to my normal self.

I’m sure other women—those who have lost their husbands, or whose children have moved away—can relate to the need for both help and hope. Most people need help with computer programs, or motor vehicle problems, or help with any number of the multitude of puzzles in our lives with which we seem ill equipped to deal.

Men without wives need help understanding the washing machine and clothes dryer, or how to make proper purchases at the grocery store, or help with the issues related to keeping a house clean and neat. When any of us find ourselves in the hospital, or merely needing a ride to a medical test, we need help.

The Hebrew word ezer—as used in the Bible—means “helper.” God used the term when He said the following words in Genesis 2:18:

“It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper [ezer] suitable for him.”

In other places, this word is used to describe God Himself, as the “Help of Israel.” Just as God engineered the male and female to help one another, so has God given us His own self to become the “Help of Israel.”

How comforting to know that we do not fight our battles alone. Rather, God has come alongside us as a help.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrew Christians throughout Asia Minor has used the word “help” in writing the following, as recorded Hebrews 4:16:

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

We also need the hope that the Psalmist promised in the verse at the beginning of this devotional. Nothing so weakens and destroys our emotional strength as the loss of hope. We have the feeling, “I’m on the floor here and since no one comes, I might as well just give up.”

Instead of giving up, we can cling to these precious words from the Apostle Paul, found in Romans 15:13, where our God is named the God of Hope:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

These are truly blessed promises! When we need help, no one can fill that need like our God. When we need hope, He can cause us to overflow with it. When we will feel the loving, helping hands of our blessed Lord and hear His words of hope-filled promises, we can respond by looking ahead with joy and peace. Amen!

 

 

A Time of Harvest

 

	“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
	—2 Corinthians 9:6, 8

Soon, we will begin to sense the coming of autumn. We will find ourselves in the midst of that special time of year when all around us farmers will harvest various crops.

During my teaching career, I loved those crisp fall days when the kindergarten children would walk out to their buses with bulging backpacks full of the fruit they had picked on their field trip to the apple orchard. They proudly exhibited how much weight they could carry by expressing with groans of heavy toil as they walked past me. Todd beamed, too. But, instead of keeping his apples hidden, as he made his way down the hall, he carried his apples in his hands and offered them to staff members.

“Hey, look what I picked! Would you like one?” he asked as he walked toward me.

I accepted his proffered gift and thought about Todd and his sister. Looking at them, it was easy to see that these children obviously lacked in ordinary material possessions. The clothing they wore betrayed their poverty. Yet here Todd came, the poorest of the lot, cheerfully giving out his apples right and left.

Was it possible that Todd, at age five, had already discovered the joy of giving? While other children excitedly took their harvest of apples onto the bus, so they could surprise their parents with the bounty they had picked, Todd was definitely taking a much different tack.

Perhaps this rare occasion, when Todd had something tangible to give away, he was moved by a sense deep within himself to share with others those precious apples. This act on his part certainly provided those of us observing him with a clear glimpse of Todd’s generous heart.

It pleases God, whenever we give cheerfully. It brings a special smile to our heavenly Father’s face on those occasions when we follow the example so clearly set by Todd.

Yes, sometimes we are motivated to give because we feel others expect us to do so. Other times we may give because someone has actually asked for a donation. Perhaps some of us give in the hopes that the person to whom we are giving will feel obligated to us—even might respond by giving back to us at some point.

Following the example set by this amazing five-year-old boy, what can God teach us today about giving? If we think about this narrative, what principles emerge?

• Do we consciously remember all of the many wonderful gifts that God has given to us?
  
  
• Do we think about God’s gift of His precious Son, Jesus, to die in our place on the cruel Roman cross of torture?
  
  
• Can we think of a time when God might have prompted us to give generously, but we withheld what He had so graciously given to us?
  
  
• In contrast, can we remember a time when we responded to God’s prompting and gave to another in obedience? If so, did we find that this giving was a special blessing for us?
  
  
• Do we have a possession that we could give away that would bring pleasure to another?
  
  
• Do we have something God wants us to give in a cheerful and abandoned manner?
  
  

Let’s ask God to clearly share with us His perspective on giving. Let’s search His written Word for what He has to say about giving. Then, let’s take note of the verses we find, including the verse that opened this blog post.

If we follow His instruction regarding giving, in our obedience we will surely reap a generous harvest! And, all the more so, we will know that we have done something that pleases our God, who loves us with His everlasting love.

 

 

Disgustingly Distasteful

 

“I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit.”

—Revelation 3:15-16 MSG

Imagine someone in her car arriving at the coffee shop’s drive-thru window and purposely ordering lukewarm coffee. She’s missing some of the great comfort of a well-brewed, piping hot cup of “joe,” or an ice cold cup on a very hot summer day. (Personally, I prefer tea, but only if it’s very hot or very cold.)

Can you imagine your church having the kind of evaluation that you read in the Scripture at the top of this devotional? Can you imagine reading that your church is stale, stagnant—lukewarm—when God made your church, and those who belong to it, with the purpose of being present in order to refresh and to revive others, as well as to please Him?

Not only that, but this ancient church of Laodicea—located in a region of Greece that is now a part of modern day Turkey—received even more accusations from God. In the passage from The Message, found in Revelation 3:17, God says:

“You brag, I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone, oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.”

This sentence reminds me of the twisted American mentality that has crept into our churches. We have readily accepted God’s blessings, believing that through our hard work and wisdom we have created the riches to which we have grown so accustomed. Have we gotten to the point where we no longer hear the warnings of Scripture? Do we really intend to ignore the calls to put God and His Kingdom first? Does God have to vomit us out of His mouth, or can we become useful and thirst-quenching again?

Laodicea had much to brag about. The region was known for its industries in banking, black wool making, and manufacturing of eye salve for tired eyes. And, this geographic region contained followers of Christ that God greatly valued. So, He warns them in Revelation 3:18:

“Here’s what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire. Then you’ll be rich. Buy your [white] clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You’ve gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.”

Do you hear the urgency in this passage of Scripture? Just as He spoke to the church at Laodicea, I think that God calls us and our church to change our ways.

Have the COVID-19 Pandemic and the tragedies in leaving Afghanistan caused us to hear our Lord’s voice? Will we heed the warning He gives us? Will we seriously repent of our uselessness and our pride? Will we plead with Him to send the Holy Spirit to empower us?

We need divine power in order to get busy supplying the Water of Life to this world. We need holy power in order to display the gold that shows the richness of His glory. We need God to give us white clothing to replace the clothing of those still wearing worldly rags. We need God’s holy medicine to heal the spiritual blindness of our world.

Spread the word! Hurry! The coffee is getting cold!

 

 

Sober or Silly?

 

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

—1 Peter 4:7

As a teacher, I identified second graders as “seven, social, and silly.” They had discovered that school gave them a chance to giggle and have fun with others their own age. It didn’t take much to get them concentrating on silly things at the expense of the reasons they should have come to school. I remember some lessons that I toiled over and even included learning games. But, some crazy stunt by one of their classmates took everyone off task.

Sometimes, I look at God’s people and wonder if they have taken “silly pills,” too. The prophet Jeremiah had a sobering message for God’s ancient people, whom he saw headed for exile. In his frustration he stated the following, as recorded in Lamentations 1:12:

“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me, that the Lord brought on me in the day of his fierce anger?”

The people who had the Holy Scriptures, the Law and the Prophets, were, so to speak, “fiddling while Rome burned.” In these days of collapsing countries, tyrannical leaders, weather disasters, moral decay, pride, and complete neglect of truth, what is God calling His people to do?

In another passage of Scripture, 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6, the Apostle Paul admonishes us:

But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

I have no way of knowing when Christ will come back for His church. But, when things go awry all over the world, it begins to look like the “growing pains” leading to the Second Coming that the Bible talks about. Along with the society in which we live, we can be tempted to “eat, drink and be merry,” to enjoy life, and to try to forget the terrors experienced by Christians in other places of the world.

Instead, God calls us to live sober-minded lives. He calls us to live in this way, so that we can pray, so that we can live urgently to serve Him and, as best we can, to call others to know Him and prepare for His coming.

Let us not disappoint our Heavenly Teacher with our giggling and silly distractions. Instead, let us face Him soberly and live seriously, as He has instructed. The days call for a spiritual work force, clear minded and ready to serve, relying upon Christ’s power and wisdom.

 

 

Inky Blackness

 

“You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.”

—Jonah 2:3

Have you ever been in complete darkness? The closest most of us come to that is a tour of an underground cavern or walking in an unlighted tunnel at night. We might grasp for the wall to keep our equilibrium, but we do not know where we’ve been or where we’re going.

Jonah had a most unique experience with darkness. After disobeying God and being tossed into the sea by a boatload of reluctant sailors, a great fish swallowed him alive and he stayed in the belly of this fish for three days and three nights. What’s the difference in night and day in a place like that anyway?

God had Jonah where he could not escape. God must have known that was the only place where Jonah would wake up to the requests his God was making of him and recognize his responsibility to Him. In Jonah’s astounding prayer from the fish’s belly, as recorded in Jonah 2:9, he finally cried:

But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.

Does God also have you in a place where He waits for you to “cry Uncle”? We know from this story that God takes advantage of the places and circumstances that will turn us to Him. I don’t believe God willingly creates circumstances like this, for Jeremiah said in Lamentations 3:33:

He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.

You know the famous line parents often give when punishing a child: “This will hurt me more than it hurts you.” God sees your plight if you have found yourself in a dark place with no way out and not a clue what to do. He understands and has compassion on you. Be reminded of Jonah. Though he went through utter distress, God knew all along the circumstances He would use to get Jonah back on track with His plan.

God wants us to trust Him in the dark. He alone has the means to rescue us. He wants us to believe in His power and in His will to do just that!

 

 

I Like Sog

 

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.

—Isaiah 42:16

My parents used to remind me of the statement I made as a toddler, when I sat next to my dad as we drove through the foggy landscape: “Daddy, I like sog.” I don’t quite know what made me say that. Although, I guess a picture of the world in the mist can appeal to us at times.

However, as an adult, I know now that driving in thick fog no longer holds the fascination it did for me at age three. Fog makes us slow down and sometimes hinders us from our travel. When we drive where we cannot see, danger can lurk. Sometimes having a car ahead of us with good strong rear lights helps—as long as that driver stays on the road!

Life can sometimes seem like we’re walking through a thick fog. We become easily confused and lost. We wonder where we are going. If we look around, we cannot clearly see from where we came. Looking off to the left, or off to the right, doesn’t help us in any way. We are surrounded by confusion. Each step seems treacherous to us.

When surrounded by the “fog” of life’s confusion, we should be heartened by the knowledge that our God guides us in the paths of life and leads us to places we can trust. But what of the days when we feel that we can neither see nor hear Him? What do we do then?

Do we keep walking in the fog anyway? Do we slow our pace? Do we look carefully before we take each step? Do we peer out into the darkness? Do we whisper a prayer for help?

Perhaps, if we can just catch a glimmer of God’s will for us, we will be able to move very cautiously ahead. But, if that glimmer eludes us, if some days we cannot see even our spiritual hand in front of our face, then we must just stop and wait until God lifts the soupy haze that obstructs our view.

Have you ever had to pull to the side of the road until the fog lifted? When a spiritual fog descends into our lives, perhaps we should just pull over and wait for God to lift that spiritual fog? Making this frustrating choice actually develops our trust in Him. We must believe that He wills us to rest in His loving omniscience. We must believe that the spiritual fog will eventually lift and we will see clearly again to follow our God and move along the pathway He is providing.

One of my favorite allegories, Hinds’ Feet On High Places,^¹ written by the author Hannah Hurnard, tells the story of little “Much-Afraid” on the journey she set out upon after meeting the “Shepherd.” While He assigned to her some companions to go along, she encountered many other characters that did all they could to hinder her on the way.

At one point in the story, little “Much-Afraid” found herself in a thick mist:

Now there was nothing but tameness, just a trudge, trudge forward, day after day, able to see nothing except for white, clinging mist which hung about the mountains without a gleam of sunshine breaking through. At last she burst out impatiently, “Will this dull, dreary mist never lift, I wonder?”

Little “Much-Afraid” then heard the voices of “Resentment,” “Self-Pity,” and “Bitterness,” who said to her:

“Trudge, trudge, day after day, nothing to show for it, and you ought to be getting up onto the High Places.”

One afternoon, she walked along all muddy, wet, and bedraggled. She decided to sing a little song. As she sang, the “Shepherd” appeared and sang along. As they talked together, she told Him all about the wanderings in the mist and how the voices suggested she had wandered from the path and lost her way. It was then that He said to her:

“Did you really think that I would let you stray from the right path to the High Places without doing anything to warn you or to prevent it? … You had better become a singer,” He said smiling. “Then you won’t hear what they say to you.”

Finally, He said to her, “Do you love me enough to be able to trust me completely, Much-Afraid?” … She faltered, “You know that I love you and that I long to trust you as much as I love you, that I long both to love and trust you still more.”

We can learn from this little episode in Hannah Hurnard’s book. Our Lord commonly takes care of all those who love Him and long to climb nearer to Him, as they travel through the fog and mist of the sinfulness of our dark world. He sees us wherever we are.

God finds us when we feel we are lost. He directs us, even while we struggle. He longs to hear us sing to Him, despite our doubts and fears. Through our puzzling paths ahead, may we learn to trust the God who loves us with His unfailing love and not be afraid.

______________________

1 Hurnard, Hannah. Hinds’ Feet On High Places. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1977. Pp.156-169.

 

 

Teacher's Pet

 

Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them.

—John 20:21

Ricky always thought he was chosen as the teacher’s pet. After the first or second day of school, the teacher pulled his desk up close to hers. He loved it there. He often had her attention with his interruptions and hijinks. “Why,” he thought, “if I had been a ‘problem student,’ she would have long ago sent me to the Principal’s Office. Right?” Not necessarily so.

Talker and all-around class clown, the other students liked Ricky. And, wherever he sat, he made friends. His teacher, Mrs. Allen, saw potential in him and sat him in the front next to her desk for reasons far beyond a mutual admiration.

In the Gospel of John, this close friend and devoted follower of Jesus referred to himself as the “disciple whom Jesus loved.” It seems quite possible that John might have considered himself the “teacher’s pet,” too. Yes, he did share the spotlight with James and Peter. But, Jesus often chose John for special, close-up teaching.

After all, the title “disciple” has within it the same root as the word “discipline.” Ricky didn’t perceive that the teacher actually found his behavior abhorrent. She brought him close to her, so that she could more easily control and guide him to learn self-discipline, to prevent him from interfering with the learning of the other students, and to help him through individualized teaching. Indeed, individualized teaching was the key, just as Jesus used individualized teaching with Peter, James, and John.

As a result, when the first leaders of the New Testament Church were assigned, we find that Peter, James, and John came out above all the others. They had stayed close to Jesus. His nearness gave them an unforgettable glimpse into His character and His person. Part of His discipline of them involved bringing them so close to Himself that they had to see and learn from Him.

When his classmates played outside on the playground, sometimes Ricky even got the chance to sit next to the teacher during recess! I doubt that Ricky was happy with that arrangement. Yet, in the end, we know he benefitted from this special kind of love and care given by someone more wise than he.

Proverbs 3:11-12 tells us:

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

Just as we would probably find Ricky’s name at the top of Mrs. Allen’s “worry list”—forcing her to stretch her human resources of creativity and care—God has each of us at the top of His special list, too. We are, all of us, this divine Teacher’s Pet. And, He know just how to draw us close and keep us in the place where He can teach us to live as His disciples.

 

 

Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous

 

When the Queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.

—1  Kings 10:4-5

If Robin Leach had the opportunity to host an episode of his television show, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” about Solomon, King of Israel, this famous reporter would probably have had enough material for a year of programs! We learn about this King in 1 Kings 1-11 and again in the Book of Ecclesiastes, which he wrote.

Not only was Solomon the richest man who ever lived, he also gained fame as a philosopher, composer of music, zoologist, botanist, teacher, writer, builder, and of course, King. Some 487 years after the Israelites came out of Egypt, Solomon had the honor of building the great Temple in Jerusalem. Under Solomon’s leadership, the Israelites spared no expense in creating this magnificent structure.

God had also given the nation of Israel peace with the neighboring nations. As payments of a tribute to assure peace with King Solomon, many of these neighboring nations gave significant gifts of gold and silver.

At the beginning of his reign, Solomon bowed humbly before God and prayed with a committed heart. Not only did God satisfy Solomon’s request for wisdom in leading and building this great nation, God also gave to Solomon more than any man could ever ask in material possessions. Along with all these blessings, God warned Solomon many times to keep his heart tuned to following and obeying the God of Israel.

These numerous warnings were nothing new. God had warned the entire nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai about the kinds of behaviors that they were to studiously avoid. In Deuteronomy 7:3 we read these words from God:

When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations … make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you … for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

Unbelievably and inspite of God reiterating this warning by speaking it directly to Solomon, we find that the wisest man to ever live disregarded the warning. The results of Solomon’s failure to obey proved disastrous.

From other nations, Solomon took 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. According to 1 Kings 11:4:

As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God.

Solomon must have spent a great deal of time reflecting on what things would make him happy. In Ecclesiastes 2, we find Solomon telling about all the pleasures he pursued, the projects he undertook, the things he owned, and even that harem he had built for himself. What was his conclusion? Ecclesiastes 1:2 sums it up:

Vanity of vanities, says the Treacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

King Solomon came to the conclusion that, as he recorded in Ecclesiastes 2:24, after all of the pleasures and fame his life produced:

A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness.

What lesson do we find here for us? If we are totally honest with ourselves, we will admit that most of us look for satisfaction in all the wrong places. Instead, the genuine reality is that to know and enjoy God, and to appreciate all that He wills and does, must give us the maximum amount of joy in this life.

Jesus Himself said in John 10:10:

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Let’s devote ourselves to pursuing the pleasure of pleasing God!

 

 

Good Luck Charms

 

“Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”

—1 Samuel 4:3

You probably know people who keep an object they hope will bring them good luck: a rabbit’s foot, or a four-leaf clover, or lucky horseshoe, or some memento that they expect to have power in their lives. Some people of particular religious faiths will mount the statue of a saint on the dashboard of their car, or place a religious statue in their flower garden. I even know a couple who admitted that they named their baby “Christian” as a special “nod to God.”

We might feel tempted to look down on such practices with a kind of superior glance, feeling quite smug about our own opinions on such matters. But, hold on! Let’s consider one of the stories of the Old Testament Prophet, Priest, and Judge, Samuel.

Samuel had carefully taught the people of Israel God’s written Word. Later, on the occasion when they gathered to fight against the pagan Philistine army, they were soundly defeated.

In their zeal as the Lord’s people, the Israeli army had reasoned that in their second battle against the Philistines, they needed some “magical” help. So, they sent for the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh and had it brought to the battlefield.

Upon the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant, according to 1 Samuel 4, there was such shouting that the ground shook! Giving such a powerful response to the presence of this holy object, the army of Israel felt sure that God would go out with them against the Philistines.

Yet, in the end, not only did the Philistines win the battle, but they also stole the “lucky” Ark from Israel. Following this tragic loss, Israel experienced many days of disaster.

We need to consider the error of the people of Israel. We need to ask ourselves: “Do we put our faith in religious things rather than in the living God?” Consider these behaviors:

• Some people join a church with a magnificent building, so that their babies can be baptized there, their daughters married there, and they can be buried there in great pomp.
  
  
• Other individuals, misunderstanding the role of the Sacrament of Baptism, rest in making certain their sons and daughters are baptized as babies as a sort of safe-keeping assurance of their entrance into heaven in the afterlife.
  
  
• In the same way they enroll their children in scouting programs, or athletic teams, still others bring their children to church because they want the cultural and moral training that helps fit those children to grow up and become well-prepared, upstanding citizens.
  
  

The Bible teaches us about the Living God and His standards of righteousness. Consider these excerpts from Acts 17:24-31:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else … God did this so that they would seek HIM and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being …

Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine begin is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice.

Yes, Certificates of Baptism and family religious traditions have a definite place in the lives of followers of Jesus. But, we should never confuse such items and traditions with “good luck charms” that keep us “in good” with God. He does not look on the external trinkets as humans do. He looks at our hearts and wants to see the image of His Son engraved there by His Holy Spirit!